The federal regulator announced in May that the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. will be allowed to air four minutes of national paid advertising per hour on its terrestrial radio music services to help offset federal budget cuts.

Three months later, a deal was signed with a national agency, Canadian Broadcast Sales. Jennifer Smith, who handles CBC sales and marketing for Western Canada, was assigned to the task of making this plan a reality in October.

“It’s a sigh,” the incoming CBC vice-president of English language services Heather Conway remarked to the Globe and Mail about the move.

“It’s unfortunate that financial reality is putting us in a position to have to make those kind of choices. As a listener I’d rather not.”

The following statement was released by CBC Radio management on Sept. 30 ahead of the debut of paid advertising:

Dear Radio 2 fans,

We want to take a moment to give you an update on our plan to introduce limited advertising on CBC Radio 2, which begins this week. This follows the CRTC’s approval of up to four minutes of advertising per hour as part of our recent broadcast licence renewal.

CBC/Radio-Canada made the request to add advertisements on Radio 2 and Espace musique this past spring in order to address a significant revenue gap that resulted from cuts to our funding, as well as other financial pressures that the Corporation faces. The revenue from advertising has allowed us to avoid more significant cuts to programming and the services we offer. If you would like to read more about the licence renewal process, you may visit our corporate site here.

Including ads on Radio 2 was never an easy decision. Radio 2 gives Canadians a unique listening experience with its distinct format that doesn’t exist anywhere else on the radio dial. That won’t change. There has also been some speculation that advertising on Radio 2 is a first step towards ads on Radio One – and this isn’t the case. We aren’t considering introducing ads on Radio One now or anytime in the future.

Introducing advertising on Radio 2 will not change the music or programming on Radio 2 in any way. We will continue to be the place where you can discover great Canadian music across genres. And we’ve put a lot of thought into how to integrate advertising in the least disruptive way.

The listener and the listening experience has always been our primary focus and if you listen to Radio 2 today, you’ll notice that we’re doing a test run with promos. Starting tomorrow and over the next few weeks, we’ll gradually introduce advertisements.

Thanks for continuing to listen to CBC Radio 2.

Sincerely,

Chris Boyce,
Executive Director, CBC Radio and Audio

Mark Steinmetz,
Director of Music Programming

And the first tweets complaining about the commercials once they appeared:

Permission was granted as part of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunication’s license renewal for the public broadcaster — which was seeking to incorporate commercials into its Radio 2 and Espace Music stations across the country.

Naturally, the application was vigorously opposed by existing commercial radio stations worried that CBC would cut into their revenues. Supporters of an advertising-free mandate for these national outlets were also critical of the prospect.

The cap of four minutes of commercials per hour — limited to two breaks of two-minutes each — was evidently imposed in response to those concerns.

Also, the stations will be required to play a minimum amount of distinct selections per month, to all but eliminate the kind of repetition associated with mainstream FM outlets: 2,800 for Radio 2 and 3,000 for Espace Musique.

But the CBC reaffirmed its commitment to a mostly unique programming lineup that isn’t duplicated on Canadian commercial radio.

Spots will have to be sold on a national scale, though, rather than allowing the CBC to pursue the local advertisers that comprise 70 per cent of radio revenues in Canada.

CBC Radio One will continue to be free of paid advertising — save for airtime that is offered to political parties during election campaigns — but the music-based FM stations will be seeking sponsor dollars for the first time in decades.

Commercials were heard on CBC Radio stations from their inception in 1936 through 1974.

The services then adopted a different policy than the television side, which has continued to be supported by a combination of increasingly-diminished federal funding and advertising dollars, along with subscriber revenue for its cable news network.

CBC has sought additional non-government revenue in recent years through advertising on all of its online platforms, a 20.4 per cent share in the Canadian operations of satellite radio provider SiriusXM and deals to provide programming to non-commercial radio stations in the U.S. funded by foundations and listener donations.

The decision by the CRTC will be revisited after an initial term of three years of national music radio that features an occasional word from a sponsor.

The full licence renewal can be read below — with the radio section starting on page 45: